The Jack Series
The Jack Series is a caricature of my dad - Jack DuFrene. The photos are based on situations that I experienced while growing up in his house. The architecture of the imagery have a photojournalistic aesthetic, mixed with color and contrast, a dash of surrealism and some trashy vibes. Symbols and opinions on world topics are inserted through out the series. The pictures have an art for commerce element, meaning a product, such as Coors beer, or some kind of fashion element (shoe, jewelry, clothing, etc) is placed noticeably in the photo. All photos were created between Fall 2008 and Spring 2011.
It’s interesting how a person’s mood, at a particular point in time, can influence their perception of their environment. If a person is negative (angry, depressed, etc.), then that person will likely have a negative view of others. If a person is positive (happy, at peace, etc.), then they will likely see interesting traits in others. In January 2008, I was laid off from my dream job as a staff photographer at a San Diego-based newspaper. I was pretty angry. I found myself floundering about, trying to figure out my next step. Something nudged me to pick up a Richard Avedon book, I forget what compelled me, but I’m glad I did. I read about Avedon’s portrait sessions with his father, Jacob Israel Avedon. Richard felt the need to document the aging process of his dad, creating a series of photos over the last seven years of his father’s life (or at least that’s how I remember the story). That had a profound impact on me, so I set out to document my dad. Besides, I desperately needed a project, as I had nothing to do. When I started this project, I approached it from a photojournalist point-of-view. My goal was to document where he was then, his daily routine, which seemed natural coming fresh off the newspaper job - observe and document life. When I reviewed the initial imagery, I started getting sad. It seemed everything I shot depicted this lonely old man.
Peeing, lazy-man-style.
Mid-afternoon nap, with cup half-full of wine.
At that same time I began taking classes working toward my Master of Fine Arts degree, which definitely helped brighten up my mood. Coincidentally, I started to notice my dad’s quirky traits, which is kind of how I always viewed him. I realized that I no longer wanted to document my dad, instead I wanted to create a conceptual series visually communicating my interpretation of his personality. I wanted to create a caricature of Jack DuFrene.
After pivoting, I had an idea in my head of this guy who was a mash-up of various characters from books and movies like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Caddy Shack, and then realized that was kind of my dad’s real-life personality. So, I set out to create the above photo, and titled it “Big Dick of the House.” It took me 4 or 5 re-shoots to to finally execute the idea in my head. I learned that gasoline works really well to create an explosion of fire; however, it almost lit my dad’s house on fire. The look on his face is his reaction to a fire ball licking the eaves of his house. It was literally the 2nd-to-last-frame of my last shoot. He immediately canceled the shoot, I finally got what I needed.
WEEKEND CHORES - A recurring item in the Jack Series is Coors beer. My dad called it the nectar of the Gods.
FUCKING EDGER - I often heard this in the backyard. He had a love-hate relationship with his edger.
LIGHT PRUNING - My dad loved gardening. In a deliberately gauche move, he decided to grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables in his front yard, something not seen in the entire housing tract.
INTIMATE DINNER - My dad and his cat Mika in their respective spots at the dinner table.
BABYSITTING - This is a study of contrast and texture - my dad’s skin versus my niece’s skin, showing the age difference. It’s also a conceptual representation of how I think my brother felt about my dad’s babysitting skills.
MAD SCIENTIST - This is an exploration of space. It’s also nod to the countless hours my dad put into his solo polyurethane manufacturing company - Pier Urethane.
In the beginning of this new approach, the idea was to create photos of my dad by himself in various quirky scenarios. I was trying to show his maverick-style personality, coupled with his strong do-it-yourself philosophy. Then, I felt my brother and I needed to be somehow incorporated into the photos. At that same time I started noticing that my dad was dragging his feet before each shoot, mumbling offensive and condescending comments. I don’t think he was having fun. So I decided to incorporate female models, instead of me and my brother, which seemed to brightened up his mood a bit. Here’s the Jack Series.
THE MAID - A lady would clean my dad’s house every other week. She was lovely, she laughed at all his jokes (no matter how crude). She would bring him soup when he was sick. He fixed things for her. They had a good friendship. I think the icing on the cake, for my dad, would’ve been if she did all this topless.
DAYDREAMING - My dad ironed every Sunday morning, often deep in thought. I wonder what he was daydreaming about.
ARGUING - As I got older, after my mom left, arguing happened a lot, probably due to all the big personalities in the house.
ASSHOLE - My dad was pretty blunt with his opinions. This sometimes caused tension with neighborhood friends, of which he seemed to never give a shit.
WORK AND LEISURE 1
WORK AND LEISURE 2
“Sean, your job is to mow the lawn this weekend.” I’d say “ok”.
My dad used to say this to me at the start of a weekend. He thought I would get the work done first-thing on Saturday morning; I preferred to wait until the last-minute on Sunday. This was especially true during the summer months when the sun was out, and the surf was up. My dad would get so mad - “I told you to mow the lawn, that doesn’t mean wait until the eleventh hour!” he’d bark at me.
Other inspiration for composition and content came from Sergio Leone movies and my cousin’s unwavering dedication to emailing his family with photos of topless women.
MECHANIC'S ASSISTANT - “Give me a hand” and he’d dive right into the guts of his truck. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t any help, I would just stand there holding a wrench. My dad could fix anything ... or so he thought.
NO PRIVACY - My dad had a tendency to walk in on people, which made things a bit tricky when I had friends over.
BIKINI SHOOT - I’m pretty sure this is how my dad saw my career choice. (He’s wrong, I’m a total pro!)
BANGIN' CHICKS - This is a combination of an experience and my dad’s philosophy about having sex in his house. Me and my brother had a few parties back in high school. “DUDE, Mark’s bangin’ some chick!” So, we all peeked through the window. This was a big deal because I barely knew how to flirt with a girl. I was stoked for Mark and happy it happened on my brother’s bed. As for the philosophy, my dad had a no sex rule in his house. This was made clear by his habit of jiggling the door handle and barking “Quit playing tickle and slap and get out here!”
SUPPER TIME - This one’s a bit layered and complicated. The Rosary, knife and raw meat represent the Catholic priest molestation scandal that came out in the early 2000s. It’s also an homage, let me explain … I went to Catholic school a few years when I was young. I loved that time-period. Not because of Catholic school, but because it represents a golden era of my life. My only job was to play, my parents were still married, mom made biscuits from scratch and they both would give me a goodnight-kiss at bedtime. Most importantly, they didn’t fight yet, which eventually happened and led to divorce. Years later after their divorce, I read a story in the LA Times about a Catholic priest who molested indigenous children in Canada. I then became aware of all the other priest molestation stories. This made me sad and angry for the people affected. It also I trampled on the memory of my childhood, because this religion represented a specific time period when when my family was whole and everyone got along – no arguing.
I’m also paying homage to the imagery Steven Klein and Mert and Marcus were creating for Dolce and Gabbana at the time. They were influential when I was working on my Master Fine Arts.
One last thing … my dad was a big fan of steak.
BEER COZY - My dad loved Coors beer and a great big pair of boobs. (this is a fact)
AFTERNOON NAP - My dad loved to take afternoon naps in the backyard, sometime holding a paper cup of wine that was on the verge of spilling.
Me and my dad in Costa Rica - 2007
He died shortly after the project was finished. I miss him.
JACK 1937-2012